India / COVID-19 vaccination 4 days a week in Delhi, 81 centres finalised for Jan 16: CM

New Delhi: The Covid-19 vaccination programme will take place at 81 centres in the national capital on 16 January. As many as 100 people will be vaccinated at each of these locations per day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Thursday.

Kejriwal also said: "We will begin with 81 centres, it will then be increased to 175 in a few days and then to 1,000 centres across Delhi."

The Delhi CM also said that the Covid-19 vaccination will be done four days a week -- Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday -- in the first phase of the immunisation programme.

CM Kejriwal has said that the Delhi government has completed all preparations for rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine from Saturday, with more than 8,000 health workers to be vaccinated on every scheduled day in the city.

The Delhi government has received 2.74 lakh doses of the vaccine so far from the Centre, which would be sufficient for 1.2 lakh health workers. There are a total of 2.4 lakh health workers in the city and more vaccine doses are expected to arrive soon, Kejriwal said.

Free Covid vaccine for all Delhi residents

Earlier on Wednesday, Kejriwal had announced that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government will provide the Covid-19 vaccine for free to the people of Delhi if the Central Government fails to do so.

Kejriwal said that he has already appealed to the Centre for ensuring free vaccination in the country as "there are many people who may not afford the life-saving shot".

"I request everyone to not spread misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccine. I had appealed to the Central govt that Covid-19 vaccination should be provided free of cost to all. If the Centre does not do it and a need arises, the vaccine will be provided for free to people of Delhi," Kejriwal said while speaking to reporters.

The coronavirus vaccination drive will begin in Delhi on 16 January. In the first phase, healthcare workers will be vaccinated followed by frontline workers. Teachers have also been included in the category of frontline workers, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had earlier stated.

Meanwhile, Delhi on Wednesday reported 357 new Covid-19 cases and 11 deaths, the city health department informed.

As many as 70,745 tests were conducted yesterday. The total number of positive cases in the national capital now stands at 6,31,249, including 2,991 active cases and 6,17,540 recoveries, and 10,718 deaths.